New DSLR - Chameleon

[leheath]

I just got my first DSLR - a Pentax K-r with 18-55mm and 55-300mm kit lenses. Today was the first day I have played with it. Below is a photo of my chameleon taken with the 18-55mm lens at 55mm, f10, 1/15, handheld with built-in flash, manual focus, ISO 200 (not sure how to make this info show up in with the photo - I'm using photobucket...). I shot in JPEG and the only processing was cropping, although I did change the in-camera default sharpness (increased it).

Comment on composition (should I have cropped more - if I understand the rule of thirds, I think this breaks it, so should he be further left or right?), depth of field (should I have used a wider aperture?), and sharpness (can a photo be too sharp?) are welcome!

[photog1107]

First off, congrats on your new camera. You are off to a good start, and obvioulsy are eager to learn. That is what the forum is for!

A couple of observations to start. The first thing I notice is that the focal point of this guy should be his big eye, which, optimally, should be tack sharp. The sharpest part of the photo from what I can tell is his scaly back, but the viewer's eyes really yearns for his eye to be the sharpest. That said, you have a couple of things working against you in this situation. First off, your speed is too slow to handhold and get optimal sharpness. In some situations, you have to hand hold, but even pros rarely hold sharpness below 1/20th or 1/30th and if you are doing closeup work, it's nearly impossible. Next time, push your ISO up to 400 and buy yourself a little more speed; alternatively you could open up aperture a stop or two to achieve the same goal. You really ought to try to work around 1/60th or faster handheld (even longer for longer focal lengths, but am guessing 55mm is the longest you have right now.)

As for composition, the negative space at the right does bother me. This is not, IMHO, an effective example of breaking the rules of thirds, and I would have cropped in to fill the frame with the critter. Remember when you break the rule (i.e., center your subject), there should still be something dynamic going on in the entire frame. Sometimes negative space, indeed can be dynamic, but I don't find that to be the situation here. I'd just do the crop.

Hope that is not more than you wanted. Nice effort and keep it up!

[leheath]

Thank you very much for the feedback - specific and helpful! I actually didn't notice how low my ISO was - I will increase it next time. I also see what you mean about the focus - my eye is drawn to his side, not his eye where it should be and I think this may be a combination of focus and brighter lighting on his side than his head. I actually have a 55-300mm zoom lens, but happened to be using the 18-55mm for this shot. I will remember the need for faster shutter speeds with longer focal lengths. If I were to crop the shot to remove the empty space of the left, would you leave the aspect ratio the same (eg. crop top and bottom also), or make it a squarer shot?

Thanks again!